Yeah
After I get to know someone and they’re comfortable with me, I often get this comment:
You know, you say ‘yeah’ a lot when I’m talking to you.
It’s true, I do!
Comfort Noise
When landlines were used, there was a certain amount of background noise due to interference and line imperfections (background static). During a call, that static comforted the participants, letting everyone know the connection was good.
When analog connections were replaced with digital ones, a new problem was created: there was not enough interference. The connection was too clear. Primarily, this was an issue because:
- Listeners would prematurely hang up, thinking that the line was dead.
- When someone did start talking, the contrast between the silence and speech sounded choppy and was jarring.
Enter comfort noise - deliberate (artificial) noise injected into the conversation to bring comfort to the listener1.
Feedback
Yeah serves the same purpose. It’s comfort noise.
Silence is uncomfortable2 - the lack of feedback is disorienting. Letting the other party know you’re there, you’re engaged, and you’ve heard what they’ve said - is comforting. Often, all that it takes to facilitate the natural progression of a sensitive topic is a bit of that feedback. It says yep, I’m following along, and not much else3.
Listening vs. Solving
I like ‘yeah’ because it’s delivers the perfect amount of comfort.
- It’s just enough to let the person know you’re there and engaged.
- It doesn’t provide any additional feedback/opinions about the topic, letting the conversation progress naturally.
Yeah doesn’t try to solve any problems, which is an easy place to go in an engaging conversation. It’s the Swiss Army knife response to focus on listening.
So…yeah!
Seriously, there’s a lot of technology out there that exists for the sole purpose of making fake interference noise in voice conversations.↩
At least in the West. I suppose it’s an entirely separate post to discuss Americans' discomfort with silence (and associated implications for communication/negotiation/collaboration).↩
Today this is, perhaps, more important than ever, because it sort of seems like the probability someone isn’t following is pretty high (cell phones, texts, etc).↩